Not Really Gone
by LuckyLadybug
Summary: Takes place during the book The Mandalorian Armor, when Boba Fett is neardeath from the Sarlaac experience . . . If you don't like stories that show him in a different light, then for crumb's sake, don't read this! LOL! Slight ep. 2 spoilers.


Star Wars  
Not Really Gone  
By Lucky_Ladybug  
  
  
Notes: The characters and locations belong to George Lucas and Lucasbooks! Only the story idea is mine! The groovy title was suggested by JP! :) Am I the only one who wondered exactly what happened in The Mandalorian Armor after that scene where Boba Fett is dying in Dengar's hideout from the Sarlaac experience? We suddenly flashback to the other storyline then, and when we come back to the present, Boba is suddenly alright again, and talking to Dengar. Huh? K.W. Jeter said only that Boba had not died after all. Obviously. LOL. ANYWAY, I luv his Bounty Hunter Wars series so much that I decided to fill in a gap or two. So, without further jabbering, here's my take on what might've happened in the present during the time we flashed back to the past.  
  
  
"He's dying." The med droid turned to Dengar and Neelah. "I'm sorry, there's really not a lot we can do."  
  
Dengar sighed, and, shaking his head sadly, sank into a nearby chair.  
  
"He can't die," was Neelah's reply to the news. "He can't!"  
  
Boba could faintly hear their voices as he struggled to keep fighting, to keep living. It was getting harder and harder. Maybe, he thought to himself, the Sarlaac experience was just too much . . .even for me.   
  
He had always managed to get out of his dangerous predicaments before, had always managed to survive somehow. And he *had* gotten out of the Sarlaac—he had blasted his way out, killing the beast in the process. But now it looked as though the Sarlaac and its toxic acids were going to win out anyway.  
  
He could feel death closing in around him, ready to snatch him the moment he gave up fighting. "I'm not giving up," he said to himself. "I'm not giving in." And then he remembered a conversation with his father Jango from long ago . . .  
  
"Being a bounty hunter means you don't always make it home," he had said. "Sooner or later, the inevitable happens, and when it does . . ."  
  
"What does 'inevitable' mean?" the then-ten-year-old Boba Fett had asked.   
  
"It means a sure thing," Jango had replied. "Death is a sure thing."  
  
And, Boba knew, death seemed to be a very sure thing right now.  
  
"Here I come, Dad," he said in his mind, finding his grasp on life becoming as slippery as the fish he used to catch back on rainy Kamino.  
  
"No, son, not yet."  
  
Boba looked around. He was standing in some kind of white mist, and coming towards him, looking just as Boba always remembered him, was Jango.  
  
Boba's heart swelled. "Dad!" He ran towards him, the years falling away. At this moment, he was not the most feared and dangerous bounty hunter in the galaxy, but instead, the loving and adoring son of Jango Fett, running to greet his father after a long absence.  
  
He and Jango reached each other and they embraced. "Dad, I've missed you so much," Boba said softly.  
  
"I know, son," Jango said. "I've missed you too." He paused. "I'm very proud of you, Boba. You are an outstanding bounty hunter, just like I knew you would be."  
  
"Thanks, Dad." Boba looked embarrassed. "But I sure screwed that last job up, falling into that Sarlaac thing like that."  
  
"Us bounty hunters are just human, son," Jango replied. "Accidents happen. The important thing is that we walk away from them, and learn from them." They looked at each other for a long moment. "It is not your time to go yet, Boba," Jango said softly. "You can fight the death and win yet."  
  
"I know, Dad," Boba said, surprised to find a newfound strength in himself. "I won't give up."  
  
Jango smiled. "Remember how much I love you."  
  
Boba tried not to cry as Jango's image faded away, along with the white mists, into the darkness. "I will, Dad. I do. I love you too."  
****  
"This is incredible," the med droid said, visibly surprised. "His vital signs are picking up." Dengar and Neelah both turned to look in disbelief. "I do believe," the med droid continued, "that this one will live after all." 


End file.
